Chapter 1082

"I.. I'm still fine."

"Just very..."

As if she almost said something she shouldn't have, Wen Ya panickedly avoided Lin An's gaze and hastily changed the subject:

"Gao Tian and Liang Shaoguang are over by Wangjiang; if you have something to find him, I'll contact him right away..."

Seeing Wen Ya suddenly at a loss, Lin An burst out laughing.

"It's fine, I'll let him know later. You.."

Before he could finish speaking, Mo Ling, who had just run to the underground core entrance, suddenly turned his head:

"Hey! Damn Lin An!"

"I'm going to sleep!"

His tone was resentful.

As soon as his words fell, everyone in the hall looked at Lin An in surprise. Although they didn't know much, anyone with a bit of sense could see why Mo Ling had just done that.

Probably the only one in the whole base who dares to speak to Lord Lin An like that is this freak, Mo Ling.

Seeing the extremely possessive Mo Ling, Lin An gave a bitter smile and slightly shook his head.

Turning his gaze back to Wen Ya, Lin An nodded in greeting and prepared to leave:

"I'll go ahead first; when the base upgrades, you can pick a few Awakened Ones to come along."

"Alright.. then go ahead and get busy."

He hastily agreed, his voice bitter.

Wen Ya watched Lin An turn and leave, a flicker of loss crossing her heart. She herself didn't know why she felt that way.

"Zhuanxu, check the upgrade conditions."

In the azure underground core, Lin An placed both hands on the core control panel and asked calmly.

Every so often when he returned to the base, the place seemed to have completely changed.

The underground core now reached a depth of a hundred meters. Under Chu An's renovation, what used to be just a few metal plates built on flat ground has now turned into a dense underground honeycomb network.

Insane, Chu An even buried many spirit-energy nuclear bombs underneath.

"Respected Commander, the current Apocalypse Base level is 2."

"Requirements for the next level:"

"Spirit Energy Reserve: 2,000,000 points (1,735,401/2,000,000)"

"Spirit Energy Nodes: Rank 4 (1/1)"

"Third-Rank Mutant Corpses: 30 (79/30)"

Raising his eyebrows, Lin An looked at the exaggerated numbers and couldn't help but want to retort. Although he hadn't paid attention to the base situation for a long time, he remembered that when upgrading to level 2, the spirit energy reserve was only 20,000 points; he never expected that raising it by one level would increase it a hundredfold!

Unlike the spirit energy within a third-rank body, the base's stored spirit energy can only be used for construction or defense. Ordinary Awakened Ones replenishing or absorbing spirit energy in the base usually have a conversion ratio of only 10:1. As Chu An said, the base's spirit energy is crude energy, hard to control.

Seeing that only one condition remained unmet, Lin An couldn't help but feel relieved that his scavenging ability was still decent.

If it weren't for the large sum he'd extorted from several war zones, who knows when he'd ever gather this much.

Still short 300,000... forget it, just find the Soviet Union and extort another sum.

Half an hour later, Lin An looked at the spirit-energy reserves hastily traded from the Soviet war zone and couldn't help but lament how convenient it is to have a war zone at his service.

Such strategic resources can't even be bought on the trade channel.

Before, he had indeed asked the Capital War Zone to trade, but they only made a petty, stingy exchange.

"Captain Lin!?"

"When did you get back!?"

Accompanied by the sound of hurried footsteps, Gao Tian, who had rushed over, eagerly rushed to Lin An's face, dry-swallowing saliva.

Since Lin An urged him to raise his attributes as much as possible, he has cleared many dungeons lately, using every method he could. But for some reason, he feels his attributes have hit a bottleneck, unable to reach their limit no matter what.

With a smile, Lin An glanced at Gao Tian, whose gaze had become much more resolute, and casually asked:

"You weren't with Liang Shaoguang in the rear mountain dungeon before, right? How was it, any discoveries?"

Lin An still remembered the moon wolf fang that Liang Shaoguang found. Bow, wolf, legend. No matter how you look at it, the rear mountain dungeon seems like one of the places where Gao Tian rose to prominence in his past life.

"Captain Lin, I and Old Liang can't proceed any further."

"The first half of that rear mountain dungeon is an ancient village scene, but for some reason the second half requires at least third rank to enter."

Gao Tian gave a bitter laugh, scratched his head, and explained. He too had thought he could reap great rewards from that dungeon, but he didn't even qualify to enter.

Third rank to enter...

Lin An pondered for a moment, desperately trying to recall Gao Tian's rise path in his past life.

It seems that his own appearance has disrupted Gao Tian's normal development. At this point in his past life, Gao Tian should have gone to the Secret Realm to boost his attributes, then entered the dungeon after reaching third rank. If all goes well, the rear mountain dungeon should have at least one Epic-tier mission; otherwise Gao Tian couldn't have earned enough prestige to exchange for the Petrification Ring.

He didn't mind either; seeing that Gao Tian's attributes were still far from the limit, Lin An hesitated a moment and then spoke:

"After the base upgrades later, there should also be an amplification bonus."

"See how much it can add later."

"In 15 days, the Trial Tower will open; I hope you can at least pass the trials of Strength, Agility, and Willpower, the three systems."

"Of course, you can also choose to directly use the points I left there. I respect your choice. After all, the three trials are extremely difficult; you might even die."

Two paths.

Gao Tian stared blankly at Lin An, and after a moment, he hardly hesitated at all:

"Brother Lin! I choose to take the trial myself! I'm not afraid of death!"

During this time, he has actually been feeling quite stifled. No one knows that Lin An used to bring him on every mission before, but after reaching third rank, he felt like a burden; besides Zhang Tie and Mo Ling being able to keep up with Lin An's pace, everyone else could only silently stay in Long An, handling affairs in place of Brother Lin.

This feeling of helplessness truly made his heart ache. He also has his own pride, and a heart that aspires to become strong.

Although Lin An doesn't speak much, over this long apocalypse he has clearly felt that Lin An holds great expectations for him.

So, how could I let down this expectation！？

It's just three trials; Lin Ge can be first in the Four Systems—what right does he have not to take down the Three Systems!

Fighting spirit soaring, Gao Tian, as if issuing a military order, spoke in a deep voice:

"Lin Ge! I won't let you down! I, Gao Tian, am absolutely not trash!"

Standing not far away, Jing Tian and Wen Ya, who arrived later, also silently looked toward Lin An.

After a few steps, Jing Tian looked at Lin An with a complex expression, likewise speaking in a deep voice:

"Lin Ge, I also want to join the trial. My level has also risen to the peak of Second Level!"

"I plan to complete the agility trial without using points!"

Looking at Jing Tian who walked up beside him, Lin An's eyes showed a hint of hesitation.

To be honest, Gao Tian felt assured, so he gave a higher possible requirement. The demon hunter Gao Tian is truly a strong one with that title.

But Jing Tian...

Facing Jing Tian, who could be considered a relative, Lin An felt a rare hesitation arise.

As for Jing Tian and AnXia, he doesn't at all expect them to have any ability. In the Apocalypse, he would protect them with his life.

Whether you call him selfish or even 'indulgent,' that's exactly how he thinks.

Especially Jing Tian's talent really isn't good; in his past life he didn't even become an Awakened One. If not for using the Shen Yuan aura, Jing Tian would still be an ordinary person to this day. Without using points, Jing Tian's participation in the trial leaves Lin An really uneasy.

As if seeing Lin An's thoughts, Jing Tian gave a bitter smile, his eyes then showing a hint of longing:

"Lin Ge, just promise me."

"I am AnXia's brother, but as a brother, I lack even the ability to protect her."

"Everyone is progressing, everyone is strong. Only I am standing still."

"I don't want to become a coward hiding behind you, nor do I want my subordinates to look down on me, saying I only got this position because I'm Lin An's brother!"

"Others can, so can I!"